Putting the right eat in meat

By LIAM DANN

When we grab a sausage off the barbecue most of us don't spare a thought for what category of meat we are eating and how safe it is. We trust that someone has done that thinking for us.

This week, those someones - more than 100 of them from 42 nations and seven non-government organisations - are gathered in Auckland to finalise the draft document for a new international meat hygiene code.

The Committee on Meat Hygiene, part of the Codex Alimentari Commission, is chaired by New Zealand.

Our officials have been putting together a draft document since 2002. Every decision, on every point, is made by consensus rather than by majority, a slow process. Very slow.

Just when you think they've come up with a list of categories for all the various meat products - and you'd think seven would be enough - someone finds something that doesn't fit.

The Indian delegation isn't happy: what about Tandori chicken?

What follows is a good-natured debate about the cooking process of that tasty ethnic dish. Eventually a new category is included to encompass specific ethnic processes.

Another debate dwells on the meaning of the term "ready to eat". Eventually Canada comes to the rescue with this concise definition: a meat product, or processed meat, that is intended to be consumed without any further biocidal effect. Yum.

Most of the morning's debate is about definitions. After that the real debate will begin.

The stakes are high, says Dr Andrew McKenzie, executive director of the NZ Food Safety Authority and chairman of the committee. The World Trade Organisation formally recognised Codex guidelines in 1995. The decisions made in Auckland this week can be used to resolve international disputes about technical trade barriers.

Each country has an agenda that it wants to push.

McKenzie is positive but realistic about the chances of delegates reaching agreement in time to ratify the document on Friday.

If they do, it will go to a general Codex meeting in July for final approval. If they don't, the debate must wait another year until the next meeting of the Meat Hygiene Committee.

There is a lot of goodwill, McKenzie says.

Other Codex committees - covering everything from fresh fruit to fish to pesticide use - can get considerably more contentious.